


JAMES HOBBS HANSON, LL.D. 
A MEMORIAL. 




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JAMES HOBBS HANSON, LL.D. 



THE TRUSTEES OF COLBY UNIVERSITY 



IN MEMORY OF 



AN HONORED AND BELOVED ASSOCIATE 






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PORTLAND, ME. 

BROWN THURSTON COMPANY 
1894 



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17893 




THE INTERPRETER. 



BY ELLEN HAMLIN BUTLER. 



Through the enchanted veil of loving tears 
I see again the old room, dusk and low — 
That dear, dim room, which time has ceased to know — 
Filled with thy presence, crowned with silver years ; 
O fond revealer, latest of our seers, 

Wilt thou no more bid Virgil come and go. 
Or conjure up immortal Cicero ; 
Or lead us forth 'mid Caesar's wheeling spears ? 
But yesterday, I hushed my heart to see 

Great Brutus — learned to hope with Juliet — 
Breathed the wild witch-fog closing o'er Macbeth. 
O master mine, interpret, now for me, 

The mystic speech whereto thy voice is set. 
And I will construe life — ay, from thy death ! 

— Portland Transcript. 



JAMES HOBBS HANSON. 



BORN JUNE 26, 1816. DIED APRIL 21, i{ 



BY W. H. SPENCER, D. D. 



[From a Memorial Discourse.] 

James Hobbs Hanson was born in China, Maine, in the 
early summer of the year 18 16, which was known in this 
latitude as the year without a summer — a summer in which 
frost and ice were common in every month. It might seem 
that the rigor of such a season imparted an unwonted tough- 
ness to the fiber of this particular babe. But rather, it was 
the out-of-door life and wholesome exercise of a farmer's boy 
that knit the frame which was to support and nourish the 
brain, that might work without pain, almost without rest, for 
nearly threescore years. 

It was before he left the farm that he experienced that 
greatest of all changes in the career of a human soul, that 
allies it with unseen and eternal forces and gives it a new 
upward impulse toward God and holiness. He was con- 
verted under the ministry of Daniel Bartlett, then pastor of 
the Baptist church in China, and was baptized by him in 
China pond, March 26, 1835, the ice being cut for the pur- 
pose. We recognize something of the resolute spirit of the 
man, in the fact that he went forward and received the ordi- 
nance without the knowledge of the other members of the 
family, and walked home in his dripping garments a mile 
from the scene of his baptism. 

The death of his father when he was about seventeen years 
of age brought a heavy burden of responsibility upon his 
mother, but she was worthy of the honor of training such a 



6 JAMES HOBBS HANSON, LL. D. 

son. An incident of his boyhood is well worth telling here. 
Some of you may not believe it, but it is true that Dr. Han- 
son, when he was a youth, wanted a pair of skates very much 
and cherished a strong determination to have them. But his 
mother, fearing some fatal accident, was unwilling that he 
should try the treacherous ice, and in dissuading him from 
his purpose wisely tried " the expulsive power of a new and 
higher affection." In place of the coveted skates she prom- 
ised him the money necessary to pay for his membership in 
the country singing school which was to be held during that 
winter, and although young James had never been suspected 
of possessing the slightest aptitude for music, nor had ever 
been known even to whistle a tune, this alternative took his 
fancy. He took up vocal music, as he afterwards took up 
Latin and Greek, to master the art, and the result was that 
he became an acknowledged leader in vocal music, both as a 
singing school teacher and chorister in this church for several 
years. 

Dr. Hanson's career as a teacher began in 1835, in his 
twentieth year, in a little town in Penobscot county. After 
that he taught two terms on the island of Vinalhaven in a 
country school. His next venture was in a village school in 
Searsmont, where he summoned courage to try the part of a 
singing master, succeding so well that he was induced to open 
a second school in another part of the town. This work 
brought him a better compensation than that of the day 
schools, and during the next winter he carried on three sing- 
ing schools. 

Thus he paid his way through the academy in China, 
which was then a school of considerable reputation, and also 
through Waterville College, where he was graduated with the 
class of 1842. 

Then came one of the turns in his life which we can only 
account for through the work of an overruling Providence. 
After his graduation he taught three terms in the town of 



A MEMORIAL. 7 

Hampden, tried to secure the position of principal of the 
Hampden Academy and failed, and was obliged to return to 
his old home on the farm in China. How different mis:ht 
have been his career if he had succeeded in his first attempt 
to fix his lifework in Hampden ! 

At this time the Waterville Academy, which had been 
running down for several years, needed a strong and steady 
hand at the helm, and Mr. Hanson was induced to come over 
here and take the school in hand, little thinking that here he 
was to find the real work of his life. The school opened 
with five pupils and gave but little hope of much enlargement 
during the first year, but after that came more pupils and 
better support and the success of the Academy became an 
assured thing. Mr. Hanson was now fairly embarked on his 
destined career. 

It is not my purpose to trace his course as a teacher, but 
rather to draw lessons from his life and character as a Chris- 
tian. It is enough to say here concerning the nearly fifty- 
one years that have passed since he became the head of what 
was long known as Dr. Hanson's school, that he spent the first 
eleven years in this place, the number of pupils increasing at 
one time to three hundred and eight. Then, worn with his 
arduous service, with no backing by the trustees of the Acad- 
emy, he listened to the overtures of the Eastport High School 
in 1854, where he remained three years. From there he 
removed to Portland and became the principal of the Boys' 
High School, which he brought up from a state of lax disci- 
pline to excellent efficiency. After eight years spent in 
Portland, the last two in charge of a private school, he 
returned to Waterville in 1865, at the urgent solicitation of 
President Champlin, to resume the care of the Academy, 
which he kept on his heart and mind up to the evening of 
the i6th inst., less than five days before he yielded up his heroic 
spirit. This work of building up the Institute was the great 
work of his life, and when he was compelled to lay it down 



8 JAMES HOBBS HANSON, LL. D. 

it was a sign that the end of life was near at hand. It was 
noticed that after he had finally turned over his classes to 
the substitute teachers, he showed no more care for the 
school. His long work was done, and he knew it. He had 
used the last remnant of strength in the service of his pupils. 
He had gone over to the school building on the first day 
of the new term with the hope of carrying the school 
through the last term of the year, but his voice, once so 
strong, was faint and inarticulate, his throat was dry and sore, 
his physical endurance had found its limit. His will was still 
good, but the body which had served it so long without ques- 
tion was exhausted. It seemed hard for him to understand 
that he could not goad himself to further exertions. 

There was one word that filled up the conception of life 
for Dr. Hanson, and that word was duty. Not that he dis- 
liked pleasure, or that he was devoid of the play of sentiment, 
or that he hated leisure. Those who have not known him 
have misjudged him in these respects. But there was always 
much work to do, such grave interests pending, that the 
claims of leisure, the charms of sentiment had to wait. He 
was not an enemy to holidays per se, but holidays sometimes 
came around too often for the amount of work that had to 
be done. It was duty before pleasure with him, and the 
habit of a lifetime brought him his pleasure in duty. 

He had also a passion for thoroughness and exactness in 
the performance of duty that was almost fierce at times, and 
anything like carelessness or neglect would kindle the fire in 
his eye and awaken the slumbering thunders of his voice ; 
but I noted with surprise more than once the kindly judg- 
ment given and the tender interest felt in certain ones who 
had been almost crushed by his rebukes. After all, though 
he was exacting and sometimes seemed overbearing in his 
requirements, he was really considerate and fair in his judg- 
ments and treatment of everyone, and everyone came at last 
to know it. 



A MEMORIAL. 9 

" I must work the works of him that sent me while it is 
day : the night cometh when no man can work." It seemed 
as if our dear friend and brother were goaded on by some 
thought like this. To fill up every day and every hour with 
the one work of his life, to carry on the Institute with 
the very last breath of vitality that he could command was 
what he seemed to live for. We dreaded for him a pro- 
tracted season of helpless idleness. For him to live was to 
work. The day of his life was given for work, and when 
the time came that he could work no more, then night speed- 
ily came. He retreated to an inner room, closed the shut- 
ters, put out the fire and laid him down upon his couch to 
rest. There was nothing more to live for, and he fell asleep 
to awake in righteousness and to serve his God in a service 
which shall be rest forevermore. 



FUNERAL ADDRESSES. 



ADDRESS 

BY 

REV. A. L. LANE. 

It is appropriate that the Institute should have voice in 
these exercises, since it was to the Institute that Dr. Hanson 
gave the full measure of devotion and sacrifice. I am to 
speak for the school and partly to the school. Dr. Hanson 
needs no words of eulogy from any lips. The simple story of 
his life is its best eulogy. For many years during its earlier 
history the school rested upon the shoulders of Dr. Hanson, 
more fully than upon any other human support. At one of 
our state conventions, when the question of an endowment 
was raised, Dr. Ricker, after saying that the school was with- 
out endowment, said : " Did I say that the Institute has no 
endowment ? I am wrong. Dr. Hanson is its endowment. 
But Dr. Hanson will not live forever, and we must take care 
that he be not crushed by too heavy a burden." Later, when 
the Institute was partially endowed and equipped with a new 
building, it was still the strength of his heart and of his 
mind, it was still the force of his indomitable will and the 
persistency of his labor, that contributed most largely to the 
life and energy of the school. Of the many qualities which 
gave him his power and influence, that which lies upon the 
surface, most marked perhaps of any, was his immense 
capacity for work. He had a genius for work. In season 
and out of season, in school hours and out of school hours, 
he was always ready to give to any student the full measure 
of his helpfulness. In the earlier history of the school, his 
hours of recitation were far beyond those usually given to 
such work ; and even later, the time spent in assisting stu- 
dents to catch up with regular classes, or to make up work 



14 JAMES HOBBS HANSON, LL. D. 

which they had lost by absence, was an amount of which 
few persons would have any conception. 

At the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the school, 
ex-Governor Dingley gave an illustration in his own experi- 
ence of this readiness to do extra work. By mistake, he 
came to Waterville one week before the commencement of 
the term. Upon calling upon Dr. Hanson, he was told that 
that need make no difference ; he might commence his work 
at once ; and he did so. 

In addition to his own power of work, he had the faculty 
of arousing a like spirit in his students. They caught from 
him something of his earnestness. Probably no man ever 
got so much work out of a body of students in the same 
time, as Dr. Hanson; and if the amount of education received 
is to be measured by the amount of activity on the part of 
the student, as it is, then he was pre-eminently a successful 
teacher. As one of the students who had taken a part of 
his course elsewhere said : " We have learned that a year 
in any other school is a very poor substitute for a year in the 
Institute." 

Dr. Hanson by the force of his example taught habits of 
painstaking study. To the very last he was himself a con- 
stant student, and by this means inspired those whom he 
instructed with something of the same zeal. The picture 
which comes most clearly to my mind as I think of him is of 
his taking his coat and crutch and books, and with bowed form 
and feeble steps leaving his room at the close of the school. 
He was not willing, he said, that any question should come 
up in the class-room which he was not ready to meet, and 
out of constant study of the subjects taught, he was able to 
teach as from a perennial spring. 

But it was in his moral and Christian influence upon the 
school that a part of his work lay of which he was specially 
solicitous. It was his constant desire that his students 
should not only be all that was thorough and solid in educa- 



A MEMORIAL. 1 5 

tion, but all that was true and noble in character. And to 
secure this, he spared no effort of thought or word. For 
many years, he led one of the two weekly prayer-meetings, 
and for these services he made most careful preparation, 
sometimes with written notes, always with most careful 
analysis of what he wished to say. The influence of these 
counsels was far-reaching and will be long continued. He 
was very happy in his expositions of scripture truth. His 
regard for the word of God was a prominent feature in his 
character, and in every way possible he sought to lead others 
to honor and reverence it. His prayers with and for the 
school were marked by great variety of language and strength 
of expression. He had a great sense of the holiness of God, 
and of the purity of heart and life which he requires. While 
his prayers were remarkably free from set phrases and repe- 
titions, this feeling found expression in the favorite title 
which he used, " Holy Father." God was to him a father 
and a friend, but one who required holiness of heart in those 
who would worship him acceptably. 

The public schools of this city owe to Dr. Hanson a debt 
that is continually increasing. For many years the High 
School and Institute were united in one, and since they have 
been separated every high school principal and many of the 
other teachers have been graduates of the Institute, so that 
the influence of Dr. Hanson's scholarship and character are 
widely felt in the schools of the city. 

It is impossible to estimate his influence either in amount 
or in duration. Thousands of pupils have come under his 
touch and have taken more or less of shape in response to 
his influence. And now that the direct labor is ended and 
the voice silent, " he, being dead, yet speaketh." He still 
lives in all who have come into sympathy with his spirit. 
He will live in all who shall receive like inspiration from 
those who have been his pupils. A thousand years hence 
the world will be the better because Dr. Hanson has lived 
in it. 



l6 JAMES HOBBS HANSON, LL. D. 

To the very last his heart was with the school. It was his 
wish that the close of his work in the school and of his life 
might come near together, and it was fitting that with less 
than a week's absence from school work his life should close. 
"The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." 

We shall all, pupils and friends, best honor the memory of 
Dr. Hanson by embodying in our lives the same principles 
of fidelity and earnestness which in his life found such full 
expression. As he clung with special tenderness of affection 
to the members of the present Senior classes, it is for them 
to show themselves still worthy of this high regard. 



ADDRESS 

BY 

PRESIDENT B. L. WHITMAN. 

Blessed is the man whose eulogy is the truth. Those 
who knew our dead teacher best know that the simple truth 
is his best praise. All cannot be told. Even those who 
year after year have worked under him, and with him, feel 
that there is much that will not allow itself to be put into 
words. An untiring student, a great teacher, a consecrated 
Christian, a faithful friend — the finest meaning of all these 
words can only be hinted at. There is something sanctify- 
ing about a life and death like this. Years of service such 
as fall to the lot of few men was his and they have been 
crowned by reward such as few men have earned. 

Dr. Hanson made for himself an honorable place in the 
educational history of Maine. Larger money returns were 
offered him elsewhere. Not once or twice but many times 
positions of influence coveted his gifts. He had given Maine 
his head and his heart, and for half a century the best he 
could do and be was freely given in her service. The work 
by which he is best known was that of the principalship of 
Waterville Academy, now Coburn Classical Institute. Ro- 
mance and pathos mingle in the history of that work. Poor 
in all but its teachers, the institution struggled through years 
of patient, persistent, hopeful toil. Morning as well as mid- 
night oil was burned by its principal. For years the only 
limit placed upon working hours was the limit compelled by 
physical limitation. Fifteen, eighteen, twenty hours out of 
twenty-four was the proportion of working time for those 
years. Only a giant could stand such a strain. Dr. Han- 
son was not over great physically, but he was a giant inside. 



l8 JAMES HOBBS HANSON, LL. D. 

He Stood the strain. The dark days gave way to brighter. 
Money came making the problem of school support simpler. 
The faculty was enlarged. Some burdens were lifted. But 
to the end Dr. Hanson held on working more hours than 
most younger men would have found possible, meeting his 
classes in his own study when too weak to meet them in the 
classroom, in his chamber when too weak for that. He 
wanted to die in the harness. There is something striking 
in the literalness with which his wish was granted. In the 
schoolroom Monday, called home Friday, only three days 
separated discharge of office and departure. It is a wonder- 
ful record. Small wonder that the Institute has been popu- 
larly known as Dr. Hanson's school ! 

In some sense the product of that work is greater than it 
would have been if less concentrated locally. The worker 
was known and loved. It was beautiful to see the respect 
with which he was always greeted in educational circles. 
Twice at least within two years the greeting was an ovation. 
Taking a half-century together, no other man has wrought 
so great influence in the educational affairs of the state. 
Others came and went. Dr. Hanson remained, the very 
length of service presently becoming a potent factor. His 
pupils are numbered by thousands. With the possible excep- 
tion of Dr. Torsey at Kent's Hill, no man in the state has 
touched so many lives in the fellowship of school work as 
he. A sense of personal loss is awakened in those thous- 
ands at the announcement of his death. 

Beyond the circle of pupils is another of students of his 
books. He was the teacher of many who never saw him. 
The feeling of these is well illustrated by a man, now a 
specialist in philosophy, who came to Waterville a year and 
a half ago. He had an appointment at a certain hour. He 
explained his arrival by a train earlier than the one on which 
he was expected by his desire to see the place where Dr. 
Hanson taught. He had taken advantage of that hour to 



A MEMORIAL. I9 

walk about the Institute, glad to see even the building in 
which the master had wrought so well. When later he met 
Dr. Hanson in personal interview, his manner was that of 
one who consulted an oracle. It was living contact with one 
who had been his teacher in books. 

It is fitting that Colby should send sorrowful greeting at 
this time. For twenty-five years the Institute under Dr. 
Hanson furnished the college with half its students. At the 
present time it furnishes from a quarter to a third. But it 
was with something better than numbers that Dr. Hanson 
served the college. His pupils came well-fitted. His intol- 
erance of intellectual shams and shabbiness demanded 
thoroughness in student work. At times the Institute type 
has been a clearly marked element in college life. He 
believed in the system wisely developed in recent years, which 
has given a strong central institution resting upon a founda- 
tion of its own fitting schools. He stood close to the college 
faculty and was a constant inspiration to them. One has 
only to recount the names and deeds of the great teachers 
in the college for half a century, to feel that Dr. Hanson 
belongs with them, whatever the name and sphere of his 
teaching. For fifty years he has stood for what is best in 
education, for sound scholarship, for spiritual integrity, for 
manliness. What he himself was he sought to make others. 
He wrought faithfully and God has called him into rest. 



ADDRESS 

BY 

REV. G. D. B. PEPPER, D. D. 

I am asked to speak as a friend of Dr. Hanson, simply as 
a friend. The others who address you to-day are also and 
equally his friends, but they represent special interests as 
related to him, the church, the Institute, the College. It is 
fitting that on this occasion friendship, sole and simple, 
should have a voice and be heard. For, my friends, while 
Dr. Hanson was an eminent educator and a clear, strong, 
steady light in the church, he was also always, everywhere, 
in all things and toward everybody not only friendly, but 
friendship itself. This friendship which he was, gave tone 
to everything that he did, created an atmosphere about him 
which it was good to breathe. 

This spirit characterized preeminently his teaching and all 
his work as instructor and educator. For the time being 
this did not always seem to his pupils quite clear. He was 
exact and exacting, exacted exactness in them. He had a 
sharp eye, a microscopic precision of vision. He saw, they 
must see. He must make them see. That was his business. 
Their business was to try to see. He was faithful, laborious, 
painstaking. They ought to be ; they must be. Was a boy 
lazy, careless, blundering, needlessly blundering ? He must 
be spurred. Possibly there was a lightning flash and a thun- 
der crash at the time, that did not feel like friendship. It 
made the boy growl. The rest perhaps joined in the growl for 
the time. But every class that ever came under Dr. Hanson 
knew that no truer friend could be found even to the lazy and 
bad boy, than just that same severe teacher. Out of school, 
in school, days, nights, sick or well, he would work for them ; 



A MEMORIAL. 21 

take separately those needing it and help them on ; use him- 
self up for them. His friendship for them was individual, 
personal. He carried them one by one in his heart. Like 
the Good Shepherd he called his flock by name. I say the 
classes were all taught and dealt with in this unselfish spirit 
of friendship and in their hearts knew it, even while under 
instruction and subjected to discipline not always and in all 
respects welcome. But after they had gone from the school, 
and as the years passed by and memory kept the school life 
before them, the grateful sense of the teacher's wise and self- 
sacrificing friendship grew ever deeper and deeper. There 
are hundreds, thousands of men and women all over this 
world who, on hearing of the death of Dr. Hanson did or 
will, recall their student years with him and feel that even 
more than for his superb instruction are they indebted to 
him for his, sincere friendship and its constant, unobtrusive, 
efficient expression. It is their custom to think and speak 
of him with pride as their teacher, but yet with more of 
humble, thankful pride as their friend. Who of us has not 
heard them thus speak, sometimes decades of years after 
their graduation ? Would that some one of their number 
were standing here now, to bear this testimony for himself 
and the rest out of a full heart. 

Was he a friend to his pupils ? Not less truly also to 
others. We know how he loved this church, how he worked 
with it and for it, gave for it and to it. It was on his heart, 
in his heart, nay, not only was but is. Be sure that he has 
taken it with him. He could not have gone without it. But 
to him the church was not a mere organization, impersonal, 
a machine. It was its members, was and is, we, the brethren 
and sisters in the Lord, loved and beloved. To see us, hear 
us, meet with us, work with us, think of us, was to him a 
joy. He did not say much about it, made no parade of his 
love. To do that was not in him. Besides it was needless. 
He was what he seemed and seemed what he was. His eye. 



22 JAMES HOBBS HANSON, LL. D. 

his countenance, his bearing, his presence, his whole person- 
ality as year by year we witnessed and lived under its influ- 
ence, these were the sufficient evidence of his friendly care 
for his immediate associates. It was not that he did not see 
in us defects, that he did not discriminate accurately between 
man and man, and weigh us in truthful balances. But in 
church as in school, no evil in another awakened malice in 
him. He was the friend of us all. We knew it. It made 
us all friends to him. 

I said that Dr. Hanson was friendship itself. Being this, 
he could not limit his friendly cares to persons in whom he 
was specially interested through professional relationship. 
He was the friend of all. All who knew him felt this and 
gave back to him in some degree a friendly regard and 
response. He was against that which harmed the people, 
was ready by word and deed and money to fight it. Ab- 
sorbed mainly in school life and church work, he yet had 
an open eye on men, events and interests outside, in the 
city, the state, the nation and the world. He gave himself 
chiefly to his own work, knowing that thus he could do 
most for all other right and righteous work. But I re- 
member well how zealous and whole-hearted he was some 
years ago in aiding an attempt to choke the rum dragon in 
this city. His love of the people was hatred of that which 
harmed them. 

We all who are here to-day are here as friends of Dr. Han- 
son. The inmost circle is his own family ; around them, 
and also with them his pupils, thousands, widely scattered, 
but all here at this hour ; his brethren and sisters in Christ, 
of this church, of all churches, of the church universal ; his 
fellow citizens of this city, and the multitude elsewhere who 
have known him and known of him, all are in spirit here as 
friends. If anywhere there is an unfriendly spirit, it must 
be an unfriendliness not toward the real, but toward an imag- 
ined Dr. Hanson. 



A MEMORIAL. 23 

Was that which has given him this place in so many hearts 
simply his friendship ? This and its natural expression no 
doubt immediately. Love is the only magnet v^rhich will 
attract and hold love. Heart draws to itself hearts. But 
the stream of love which is purest, sweetest and eternal has 
its spring in the rock of right and righteous character. And 
so, too, the man, who for scores of years awakens in those 
who know, and most in those who best know him, true friend- 
ship, must have something besides mere genial good nature. 
He must have the solid rock of character, virtues which com- 
bine in the strength and beauty of true manliness. 

Dr. Hanson was a man of truth. With him to know the 
truth was almost a passion. To his eyes truth had a beauty 
all its own. He loved it for its own sake, as also for its uses. 
Loving it, he pursued it ; pursuing it, he found it. It was 
not enough to be about right ; he must be just right. He 
could not be content in the fog or the twilight. There must 
be sunlight ; this even in ordinary matters ; this strikingly 
in his classroom studies ; this supremely in spiritual things. 

Loving the truth so as to pursue or find it, he was truth- 
ful also in expression, veracious, trustworthy in speaking, in 
writing, in acting, in all conduct ; no shifting sand in him, 
no double dealing, no fair words covering foul purpose, no 
exaggeration to win applause. 

He was a just, a righteous man. He would not take or 
keep from any man that which was his due — never know- 
ingly. Labor, money, whatsoever was yours, he would leave 
to you. He coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel. 

He was as benevolent as he was fair and honest. He could 
say truthfully to men " I seek not yours, but you." He 
could even say " I seek not even mine own save that I may 
best serve others." His benevolence was not that of impulse, 
a natural generosity, but of principle — to make of himself 
the best possible and the most of the best for God and his 
fellow men. 



24 JAMES HOBBS HANSON, LL. D. 

In all his thoughts was God as the supreme law of his 
life. His tireless, persistent, heroic devotion to his work, in 
strength and not less in weakness and pain clear up to the 
end, was not mere natural Roman heroism — it was that and 
more and better — devotion to the will of God. He never 
thought that he was doing more than his duty, and this duty 
was not by compulsion, subjection to a will over him, but the 
free, glad realization of the will of God ruling within him. 
This gave him the inward peace that made serene and beau- 
tiful his face, the uncomplaining patience in weakness, pain 
and toil that were to us all so attractive in his last days. 

Whoever knew Dr. Hanson respected him, not alone for 
his intellectual ability and attainments, but for his moral and 
spiritual worth and work. We honor him as a man of honor. 
We love him for that loveliness whose root was Christian 
principle, whose foundation was solid character and whose 
radiance is that of the fixed stars which shine forever and 
ever in the firmament of our God. 



MEMORIAL TRIBUTES. 



> 



TRIBUTE OF THE TRUSTEES. 

[Rev. C. V. Hanson, d. d., for the committee appointed at the annual meet- 
ing to prepare a minute in reference to James Hobbs Hanson, ll. d., pre- 
sented the following which was unanimously adopted.] 

James Hobbs Hanson, ll. d., fell asleep on April 21, last, 
after an absence of only five days from the school and the 
tasks which had long been his joy and delight. Though in 
feeble health in recent years, he had held himself to a strict 
performance of the duties which had engaged him so earn- 
estly for more than half a century. A graduate of the class 
of 1842, he entered at once upon the work of teaching in 
which he achieved a national reputation. Forty of the fifty- 
one years of his professional life were spent in two periods 
of service as the principal of Waterville Academy and the 
Coburn Classical Institute. These years were eventful both 
to himself and the College. Eager students gathered around 
him. They felt the influence of his patient, persistent, 
honest work, and recognized in him a master indeed. The 
years broadened his acquirements, and enlarged his experi- 
ence, and so enriched the life and work of the school. The 
College became largely dependent upon him for its supply of 
students, and found in the school of which he had charge its 
most important feeder ; indeed for some years it might be 
truthfully said that he was the College. He gave men, when 
men were the only gifts that the College could number. In 
the darkest days of its history Colby turned to him more 
than to any other source for the material which would war- 
rant the continuance of its work. For quite a period tribu- 
tary and stream were nearly identical. 

He became a trustee in 1862, and served until death released 
him from the duties which had been cheerfully and faithfully 
performed and which had brought a large measure of good 



28 JAMES HOBBS HANSON, LL. D. 

to his Alma Mater. He was constant in his attendance upon 
the meetings of the Board and was a faithful custodian of 
the trust which had been committed to him. The weight of 
his character and the extent of his acquirements made him 
for a long period the most eminent as well as the most 
widely known teacher in the preparatory schools of the state. 
His text books in Latin prose and poetry evinced scholarship 
of the highest order and made him an authority in the best 
fitting schools of the land. His genius for work was amaz- 
ing and his endurance in the performance of that work was 
well nigh marvelous. By his death the College loses one of 
its most distinguished sons, and the Board one of its most 
honored members. 



TRIBUTE OF THE ALUMNI. 

[Prepared by Rev. C. V. Hanson, d. d., necrologist of the Alumni Associa- 
tion of Colby University, and presented at the meeting of the Association, 
June 26, 1894.] 

James Hobbs Hanson, ll. d. This distinguished educator 
died in Waterville, Me., of Bright's disease of the kidneys, 
April 21, 1894, at the age of seventy-seven years. He was 
the son of James and Deborah (Clarke) Hanson, and was 
born in China, Me., June 26, 18 16. He was fitted for col- 
lege in the common schools and well-known academy in his 
native town. After his graduation from the academy he 
spent a few years as a teacher. In 1838, at the age of 
twenty-two, he entered college and was graduated the second 
in his class in scholarship. The traits which characterized 
him in later years as a teacher, were conspicuous in his col- 
lege life and work. He was thorough, painstaking and honest 
in all he did. Straitened circumstances enforced great fru- 
gality. He came to his life work at graduation mature in 
years and experience, and thoroughly equipped for that 
laborious career which has given enduring fame to his work 
and name. He remained at home after graduation for a short 
time, and in 1843 became principal of Waterville Academy, 
now Coburn Classical Institute, and remained in this posi- 
tion in two periods of service for forty years. 

In 1854 he became principal of the High School in East- 
port, and remained there three years. In 1857 he became 
principal of the Boys' High School in Portland, and did 
faithful service in that important school for six years. He 
taught a successful private school in Portland for two years, 
and in 1865, at the urgent request of the trustees of Colby 
University, returned to the headship of the Academy in 
Waterville, which he retained until death brought release 



30 JAMES HOBBS HANSON, LL. D. 

from his long and self-denying work. While in Portland, in 
1 86 1, he published his Preparatory Latin Prose Book, which 
soon found a place in the leading fitting schools in the land. 
Four years later came his Handbook of Latin Poetry, which 
added to his reputation as a classical scholar. But his name 
and fame are indissolubly linked with Coburn Classical Insti- 
tute. He became its head when only five pupils gathered 
around him. He left it housed in one of the best buildings in 
the state, and with an enviable reputation among the prepara- 
tory schools in New England. 

The endowment received from Governor Abner Coburn, in 
1874, was secured largely through his influence. The Col- 
lege for many years was indebted to him for the most of the 
students within its halls. Others gave money, he gave men. 
No one ever did more for Colby than he. He became a 
trustee in 1862 and remained in office until his death. The 
College in recognition of his eminent services and high scholar- 
ship, conferred upon him the degree of ll. d. in 1872. And 
so College and Institute shared in his wise and faithful 
labors. Many years must elapse before any one can arise 
who shall rival the measure of good which Dr. Hanson 
wrought out so patiently through the years for his Alma 
Mater. The College never had a more loyal son. Her inter- 
ests were dearer to him than his own. He returned to his 
position in Waterville in 1865, when the College was in the 
greatest crisis in its history. Men and means were wanting. 
Dr. Hanson supplied the first, Gardner Colby, Abner Coburn, 
and others the second. The return of Dr. Hanson and the 
gifts of these generous patrons, make a coincidence which 
should not be overlooked by those who seek the causes of 
the present prosperity of the College. 

The unwearied devotion of Dr. Hanson to his beloved 
school, did not, however, narrow him in his social and civic 
relations. He was a man among men, kindly and helpful 
ever. He was the good citizen, and recognized his obliga- 



A MEMORIAL. 3 1 

tions to his town and state. He was also a man of high 
Christian character, and sought to make the school religious 
in its spirit and aim. And when the end came he calmly 
fell asleep in the faith which he had so long professed. Dr. 
Hanson was twice married. His first wife was Sarah Board- 
man Marston, to whom he was united in marriage in 1845. 
She died in 1853. He was next married to Mary E. Field, 
of Sidney, Sept. i6, 1854. There were three children by 
this marriage. The oldest, Florence P., died in Portland, at 
the early age of nineteen months. The second, Mrs. Sophia 
May Pierce, resides in Waterville, and was graduated from 
Colby in 1881. The third, Frank Herbert Hanson, princi- 
pal of the Washington School, Newark, N. J., was graduated 
from Colby in 1883. His widow, who survives him, was for 
many years the principal of the primary department in the 
Institute. 



THE TEACHER. 



BY ALICE L. COLE. 



For more than half a century he wrought 

With reverent hands, and then his Master said 

" Too long, O faithful servant, is delayed 

Thy well earned rest." Year after year he taught, 

To youthful generations, lessons fraught 

With knowledge that is wisdom, undismayed. 

While others slept, he toiled and watched and prayed. 

O Teacher ! thou from whom we never sought 

A meaning but to find it, now, in vain 

Do we, thy pupils, silently beseech 

Those lips, from which we long to hear again 

The dear familiar cadence of thy speech. 

To solve this mystery — to render plain 

The lesson Death has placed within thy reach. 

— Waterville Mail. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRES 



029 919 471 1 



